Audio-Psycho-Phonology Conference, Amiens 1975

This document constitutes the proceedings of the first National Audio-Psycho-Phonology Conference, held in Amiens on 30 May and 1 June 1975. The conference was organised under the aegis of the International Association of Audio-Psycho-Phonology and chaired by Dr Alfred Tomatis, president of that association. Local organisation was handled by the Educational Support Association of Amiens. Nearly two hundred participants, from the various regions of France, attended, alongside representatives from several European countries (Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland).

The proceedings were published in the International Review of Audio-Psycho-Phonology (no. 8, November-December 1975; English subtitle: Audio-Psycho-Phonology International Review). The collection brings together a welcome address and four scientific papers devoted to applications of the method and of the Electronic Ear, followed by a section of international news.

According to the table of contents, the contributions identified are as follows:

Allocution de bienvenue — by Mr Suire (Amiens)
Oreille électronique, psychothérapie et structures, à propos de quelques observations — by Dr Gardey (Pau)
« Aveugles et sourds » — Réflexions sur les voies sensorielles visuelles et auditives — by Professor Mesker (Netherlands)
La surdité professionnelle — by Dr Michiels (Belgium)
Approches d’une prise en charge des phénomènes épileptiques par l’Oreille électronique — by Dr Derrien (Montpellier)
Nouvelles internationales

The papers blend clinical reflection and case observations (re-education under the Electronic Ear, sensory pathways, occupational deafness, epilepsy), bearing witness to the expansion of the applications of audio-psycho-phonology in the mid-1970s.

Historical context — This first National Conference of 1975 marks a moment in the structuring of audio-psycho-phonology in France and in its opening to the international scene. Bringing together French and foreign practitioners around Alfred Tomatis, it illustrates the spread of the method and of the Electronic Ear beyond language re-education, towards fields such as psychotherapy, sensory deficits and neurology.